North American Society for Sport Management

Fans often remember sporting events more for sensory cues than for the actual sporting contests themselves. Loud music which precedes player introductions, mascot races and other atmospheric elements make attending these events nostalgic. In order to create a memorable spectator experience, sport marketers seek to control this atmosphere in various ways. However, to date, those efforts have not been grounded in any sort of theoretical framework. Sebastian Uhrich and Martin Benkenstein of the Institute of Marketing and Services Research at the University of Rostock in Germany recently published a framework which should provide sport marketers with direction on which of those sensory cues might be most successful.

Their article "Sport Stadium Atmosphere: Formative and Reflective Indicators for Operationalizing the Construct" appears in the March 2010 issue of the Journal of Sport Management. In the article, Uhrich and Benkenstein layout a framework in which 15 separate environmental factors clustered into four different dimensions contribute to the creation of a specific atmosphere inside a sports stadium.

"Many academics and sport managers talk about the 'unique atmosphere' in a sport stadium but no one has tried to identify the particular drivers and consequences of the atmosphere in a sport stadium with scientific methods," Uhrich said. "At least in European sport leagues, the experience of a very particular atmosphere is a major driver of attendance for some of the spectator segments. Thus, better knowledge of what creates the unique atmosphere and how it can be shaped may also have economic consequences."

Uhrich and Benkenstein conducted a series of four different studies to explore formative and reflective indicators of sport stadium atmosphere. Their methodology included a combination of quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews with fan commissioners, stadium managers, season ticket holders, members of fans clubs, and other individuals with German first and second division professional soccer clubs. The four dimensions which emerged from the research included stimuli which emulated from the spectators and their behaviors such as group chants, wearing of merchandise, and cheering for the home team; stimuli related to the architecture of the stadium such as proximity to the field of play acoustics; stimuli elicited by the organization such as an enthusiastic announcer and playing of a club anthem; and stimuli caused by the action of the match. While the latter dimension is the function of the players, the authors encouraged club managers to make players aware of this.

The authors' research is among the first in the area of sport stadium atmosphere creation and while future research may focus on expansion or continued validation of the dimensions Uhrich and Benkenstein identify, it is significant for practitioners. Since manipulation of the sport product is one element of the marketing mix managers do not often have direct control over, they can influence aspects of fan consumption of the product to create a more satisfying consumer experience thereby leading to more frequent and loyal consumption.

"We tried to identify the factors that create a favorable atmosphere. These factors should be taken into consideration when new stadiums are built," Uhrich noted. "This is also a practical implication of our research. In more general terms, we identified the most important factors (including the people component) that should be taken into account when managers try to shape the atmosphere in a stadium."  For more information on this study, Dr. Uhrich can be contacted at sebastian.uhrich@uni-rostock.de.